Challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Vietnam

Although Vietnamese society is above average level of masculinity orientation, number of womenled enterprises in the country is still now increasing. This has been the result of many changes related to gender and other supporting activities from the community. The main objective of the research was to unravel the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in some main cities and provinces in Vietnam. Results were derived through a survey with 171 respondents and qualitative in-depth interview based study of a sample of 15 women entrepreneurs operating in different districts in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City. These women are doing business in different fields and most of them are in sectors that are suitable with women such as hair and beauty, food, textile, education,… The research concluded that Vietnam women entrepreneurs face constraints mostly in matters related to access to finance, lack of information on market data, lack of access to resources and lack of digital distribution channels. Besides, nearly 30 percentages of them are still unable to control their income from the business which is one of the result of family’s influences to the business decision.